Lando Norris after taking pole at Madring: “Bloody hell, I was pretty good”

Lando Norris secured pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring. The defending champion from the McLaren team completed the 5.416 km street circuit in 1:31.824 and said after the session: “It’s a bit of a shock and I’m a bit surprised to be standing here. But my goodness, that was probably one of the best laps I’ve ever driven in my career so far. I’m very, very happy and very proud, also for the team.”

“That was one of those laps where everything just clicks. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, and everything worked out pretty much perfectly. That just makes me happy. It was one of those laps where you look at the time and think: ‘Bloody hell, I was pretty good’,” added the 13-time Grand Prix winner, beaming.

The adrenaline was really pumping on the final lap. It’s just a track where you have to relax and let everything flow. I felt very confident because the car felt pretty good. I felt good, got a run-up and everything was pretty much perfect. In the last corner I still thought I was going to end up in the wall and cause my lads a lot of work, but it all went well. I managed to do everything I’d set out to do, and that’s one of those moments when you’re in the zone, and it put a big grin on my face,” Norris enthused afterwards.

Here’s how qualifying went:

As expected, the first Formula 1 qualifying session at the Madring took place in glorious sunshine and a sweltering outside temperature of 30.4 degrees Celsius. The track surface of the Spanish street circuit had heated up to 54.2 degrees by the time the first drivers got underway. It didn’t take long for the first times to appear on the screen, and after half of all the drivers had completed their first fast lap, championship leader Kimi Antonelli was in the lead with a time of 1:33.566 minutes.

However, the Mercedes driver, who had remained the fastest on Friday’s practice sessions and also in the final free practice session, did not stay in the lead for long; Liam Lawson displaced the Mercedes driver from first place with a time of 1:33.316 minutes. The New Zealander was at the wheel of Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull Racing car, as the Frenchman had not yet fully recovered from an injury to his left wrist.

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Behind Lawson came his team-mate Max Verstappen and the Ferrari duo of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Antonelli, who had to take the run-off area at Turn 17 whilst attempting to match Lawson’s lap time, followed in fifth place ahead of George Russell, Lando Norris, Gabriel Bortoleto, Oscar Piastri and Franco Colapinto. Russell hit the wall and asked his team to take a closer look at his car.

Disappointment for Spanish fans

Two drivers had still not set a lap time with three minutes remaining in qualifying: Ollie Bearman and Lance Stroll. The former was unable to take part because he had damaged his car too badly in a crash during the third practice session. The latter took his time because he was due to be relegated to the back of the grid anyway due to his engine penalty. A water leak ultimately meant he was unable to set a Q1 time.

Antonelli made amends shortly before the end of Q1 with a time of 1:33.267, with just under 80 seconds remaining on the clock. This meant he could celebrate setting the fastest time. For local hero Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Pérez, Valtteri Bottas, Bearman and Stroll, however, qualifying was over. Sainz had reason to be frustrated, having missed out on a place in Q2 by just five thousandths of a second.

Strong pole-setting lap from defending champion Lando Norris

In the second qualifying session, Antonelli was first off the mark, but after everyone except the Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto had set a first lap time, Max Verstappen topped the timesheets with a time of 1:32.557. The four-time champion’s team had clearly made the right changes to find more speed.

Verstappen lowered the best time to 1:32.431 minutes, thereby securing the fastest time in Q2. The Dutchman topped the Q2 standings ahead of Antonelli, Hamilton, Leclerc, Lawson, Russell, Norris, Colapinto, Piastri and Lindblad. They all made it through to Q3, whilst the qualifying session was over for Hülkenberg, Bortoleto, Ocon, Gasly, Tsunoda and Albon. Hülkenberg missed out on Q3 by 19 thousandths of a second,

In the third qualifying segment, Hamilton set the benchmark for the rest of the field with a time of 1:32.079 minutes. He was 61 thousandths faster than Kimi Antonelli, behind whom Russell, Leclerc, Verstappen, Norris, Piastri, Lawson, Colapinto and Lindblad completed the top 10. The big question was: would the order change at all?

With just under four minutes remaining in qualifying, everyone set off almost simultaneously. Lindblad squeezed in front of Leclerc, who was forced to brake. The stewards took note of the incident but decided against imposing a penalty. Sainz was also flagged for getting in Valtteri Bottas’s way during the first qualifying segment. Antonelli took the lead with a time of 1:31.835 minutes. But in the end, it was Norris who emerged as the beaming pole-setter. The defending champion was 11 thousandths of a second faster than the championship leader. Verstappen slotted in behind him. Hamilton, Leclerc, Russell, Piastri, Lawson, Colapinto and Lindblad rounded off the top 10.